Chapter 124 Hypocrisy
The camel herd discovered the people chasing them. The female camel was giving birth at that time, and the other camels were extremely alert.
The male camel came over to drive them away, and the female camel continued on its way with her baby camel.
Wan Xingshan waved his hand, and the group led by him retreated quietly. The camels stayed where they were, and they looked at the male camel that was panting as it came towards them.
Sui Yu's gaze shifted away from the male camel. She looked at the camel herd that was walking away. The female camel that had given birth was walking and stopping, and neighing in pain from time to time.
After reaching a sand dune, the camel herd stopped.
Five wild male camels walked into the group of more than a dozen domesticated camels and sniffed them one by one. The underage female camels or male camels were uneasy and took the initiative to avoid them. Only seven female camels stayed where they were, raised their tails and looked at the male camels. Among them were the two camels ridden by Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping.
The crowd retreated, moving forward and backward until they were a mile away from the camel herd. Wan Xingshan stared intently at something not far away and whispered, "Wait one more night. When daybreak comes, call your camels away and bring the five male camels here."
Sui Yu retracted his gaze and said, "Will the female camel that is giving birth be affected?"
"It'll probably be born by daybreak." Wan Xingshan looked over and said, "While you're luring the male camel away, stay away from Captain Zhao, or you might get caught up by the male camel. When you're done, I'll give you the female camel that gave birth, and the baby, too."
Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
Next, everyone lay in the desert to gather their strength, listening to the camels' calls not far away and feeling the fishy wind. Half of the people kept watch while the other half fell into a deep sleep.
At midnight, two shifts take turns. Those who have slept for two or three hours wake up to keep watch, and the other group takes over to sleep.
The clouds above the desert were thin, the radiance of the stars and moon dispelling the darkness of the night. The desert was bathed in a shimmering light, and scattered camels were faintly visible in the distance. Sui Yu chewed a dry bean cake, her cheeks aching from each bite. She rubbed her face, holding the hardened bean dregs in her mouth, trying to soften them with saliva. She sat up and peered over. The seven female camels seemed to be lying down, while the five male camels stood guard, occasionally snorting or nuzzling around the females.
"What's going on?" she asked in a low voice.
The camel dealer who was not far away looked over and said nothing.
Sui Yu chewed the bean dregs for a few times, and she realized belatedly that although camels were livestock, they were probably unwilling to discuss estrus and mating with a woman to avoid causing Zhao Xiping to misunderstand.
At this time, the cry of young camels suddenly sounded in the dark night. Five male camels looked in the direction of the sound. Two male camels gave up courting and went west to the sand dunes to check on the camel herd.
"Are they leaving?" Lao Wan stood up, looked at the sky, and said anxiously, "We need to wait another hour or two. It's better to wait until daybreak."
"The female camel just gave birth and is exhausted. She probably won't move on." Sui Yu said softly, "Why don't we retreat a little further? They'll feel the threat has lessened and might stay for an hour or two longer."
Wan Xingshan woke up at this time. He pinched his eyebrows and said after he woke up: "Wake up everyone and retreat half a mile."
When people moved, several young camels that were looking for food in the desert followed them. Seven female camels stood up, and the three male camels who were reluctant to leave took the opportunity to ride on them.
Sui Yu saw it intently. Other camel traders looked at her jokingly. They were quite surprised to see that she was not ashamed at all, like a silly girl.
Zhao Xiping pulled Sui Yu away, muttering, "Close your eyes, we're outside."
"Hypocritical." Sui Yu snorted.
We moved further away, and as it was the darkest hour of the night, we could no longer see the movements of the camels in the distance and could only hear their sounds.
Time became unbearable. Some pretended to sleep, while others hurried away. Zhao Xiping cursed softly, and as he led Sui Yu away, he said angrily, "He's really like an animal."
Sui Yu remained silent. If Zhao Xiping hadn't been with her, with so many powerless women in the group, those people would probably be harassing her. She leaned against his back, gazing at the crescent moon in the sky, and pondered how, if she were to form a caravan or join a foreign caravan, she could avoid being coveted and harassed by fellow merchants, escorts, and foreign men, regardless of disguising herself as a man.
The noises of the camels mating were getting louder and louder, and a few low moans from men were heard in the wind. They were all experienced men, so Sui Yu knew what they were talking about.
Lao Wan scolded, and the panting stopped.
Sui Yu grabbed Zhao Xiping's clenched hand and said, "Just this once, I won't join any team dominated by men again."
Zhao Xiping didn't say anything.
Sui Yu fell into deep thought. This was the first time she'd seriously considered forming a caravan. Her previous mention of wanting to explore the other side of the desert had been a casual one; she had the idea but no motivation to go far. Tonight, she pondered the matter more and more, and suddenly came up with the idea of forming an all-female caravan, or rather, a caravan with a predominantly female presence. But this idea seemed even more difficult to implement than forming a caravan itself. She had no family to support her, no close friends who shared her aspirations, and where could she find so many women?
Sui Yu sighed tiredly.
Zhao Xiping tilted his head and silently asked what was wrong.
"It's okay, it's okay. I just think it's too difficult for women to navigate this world." Sui Yu gripped his hand, twisting it over and over, cracking her knuckles. She looked up at the night sky and asked mysteriously, "Do you think there's anyone in the sky?"
Zhao Xiping couldn't say for sure. He'd pondered this during nights resting on the battlefield, gazing at the sky. He'd thought there were no humans in heaven. If there were, they must be gods. But why wouldn't gods care about the suffering on earth? Not only did they ignore man-made disasters, but they also brought down natural disasters.
"I don't think so, but many people of the older generation say yes. I'm not sure either," he said.
Amid the murmuring sounds, the night sky turned blue and dawn was approaching.
Zhao Xiping and Sui Yu went to a higher point to see that the two male camels that had returned to the herd the previous night had left the herd again, and the five male camels were fighting fiercely. Not every female camel could react quickly after picking up the scent left by a male camel, so these five male camels, in order to compete for the favor of the females, would fight with each other to prove their strength and attract the females' attention.
Wan Xingshan whistled, and the nine camels that were kneeling and resting stood up and walked over. The camel dealers took off the noose hanging on their backs.
"I'm going there too. You find a place to hide." Zhao Xiping was not worried about Sui Yu. Although she liked to show off her strength, she was clear-headed and would not do anything to hurt herself.
He gave instructions and strode over.
Sui Yu saw Lao Wan pat him and handed Zhao Xiping a bundle of ropes.
Ten men dispersed, five carrying ropes and five carrying salt bricks and bean pods.
Bean pods are made by frying beans, breaking them into crumbs, and then mixing them with sesame oil to form balls. The smell is already fragrant, and after being smoked over a fire, the aroma becomes even more tempting.
The fragrance drifted away in the wind, and the wild camels behind the sand dunes, the underage camels watching the mating of male and female camels, and the female camels that had not yet gone into battle all moved by the scent.
A whistle sounded, and the owners of the trained camels whistled to call their camels. Sui Yu heard someone calling the camels' names. She looked at her two female camels and thought about giving them a name when she returned home.
After a long night of tossing and turning, the female camels hadn't eaten or drunk anything, and hadn't rested. When the whistle sounded and they smelled the tempting aroma of beans, they instinctively wanted to eat. They broke away from the male camels and ran towards the people.
The male camel was chasing after him relentlessly. Sui Yu witnessed with his own eyes how terrifying a mad camel was. It was foaming at the mouth, drooling, and its big, warm eyes were staring straight ahead. Combined with its huge body and swift running speed, it was even scarier than a mad dog.
Lao Wan threw away the roasted bean pods and salt bricks, and took the rope thrown by Zhao Xiping. The two of them ran away, each holding one end. When the two female camels came over to lick the salt bricks, the two rushed towards the mad male camel.
Sui Yu stared nervously, and then she realized that the men who tried to trip the bull camels all carried bows and arrows. This was in case they failed to trip the camels, so they could shoot them to save their lives when the bull camels chased them.
The rope was straightened, but the bull camel continued to run at an unimpeded speed. A pile of flesh hit the rope. The two people pulling the rope quickly relaxed their strength, but were still knocked to their knees by the force of the camel.
"Pull!" Lao Wan gritted his teeth and shouted.
The two men who were kneeling in the sand quickly stood up and retreated. Zhao Xiping and Lao Wan were dragged by the camel and had to struggle to trip the camel's legs.
The male camel changed its route and ran towards Lao Wan. Lao Wan pulled the rope in circles. A man not far away, who had seized the opportunity, swung the noose with force, and the noose fell accurately on the camel's neck.
The camel turned its head to gnaw on the rope. Taking advantage of the fact that it had no time to pay attention to its hooves, Zhao Xiping and Lao Wan ran towards it, pulling the rope. The rope was wrapped around its four hooves, and the two of them retreated with all their strength.
The camel was restrained from top to bottom, its four hooves were unstable, and it fell heavily to the ground, splashing dust more than a meter high.
Five wild male camels fell to the ground one after another. A group of people rushed over, some put collars on their necks, and some tied their hooves.
Seeing this, the herd of wild camels in the distance hurriedly fled. The mother camel that had just given birth last night looked at the cub that could not run yet, and kept arching its head to support it, and wailed at the running herd from time to time.
Sui Yu slid down the sand dune. She picked up the salt bricks thrown on the ground, picked up the bag of bean cakes, and led her own camel. She approached the female camel that was reluctant to escape.
Five male camels were knocked down, and the men rode on the camels to chase the herd of wild camels with their calves. Zhao Xiping whistled at Sui Yu, and Sui Yu waved his hand and followed him.
Before it even got close to the mother camel protecting her cub, it started to paw and paw with its hooves, panting and threatening Sui Yu not to get close.
Sui Yu threw the salt bricks, bean pods and bean cakes over, but stood far away and didn't get close to it.
When Sui Yu saw the newborn camel calf for the first time, he found that it had no humps, not even one, and its back was flat.
The domestic camel stretched its neck to ask Sui Yu for food. Sui Yu took out a piece of dry and hard bean cake from her pocket and handed it to her. She felt it was difficult to chew, but the camel swallowed it in two or three chews.
Sui Yu gave it another piece and said to the snorting female camel, "Eat it quickly, it's delicious. Come back with me, and I won't kill you. You can use your labor to exchange for fodder, clean water, and a shed. It's a better living environment than in the wild."
The mother camel licked the salt brick, paused, stretched out her tongue to lick a few more times, then turned to rummaging through the yellow sand for fallen bean pods and bean cakes. After a night of giving birth, she was exhausted and couldn't escape even if she abandoned her cub.
Suddenly, the two camels stopped eating and looked down the sand dunes. Sui Yu turned his head and saw a male camel biting the rope and standing up. It was running in this direction.
"Who tied the rope? Damn it." Sui Yu cursed softly. She untied the rattan bow from the camel's reins, pulled out an arrow, quickly climbed up the sand dune, and slid down in the other direction.
The mother camel with her baby took the opportunity to push the baby and run away in the other direction. After walking a few steps, she came back and took away the salt brick.
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